Order of the Stick Wiki


Random encounters can choose to not be encountered, apparently.

Cast[]

Transcript[]

Panel 1

Dave: Great. Just fantastic.
Joe: Not this again...
Dave: "Hey Dave", you said, "Let's go to the plains. We'll be the only ones there!["]

Panel 2

Dave: Yeah, well, you were right! We ARE the only ones here, which is awfully inconvenient if you're a carnivore! I keep wanting to eat my own displaced image.

Panel 3

Dave: I mean, they list our preferred Environment in the book for a reason, Joe.
Joe: Look, I'll allow that it hasn't turned out quite as I imagined, but we should try to make the best of it.

Panel 4

Dave: "Make the best of it"? I don't think—
Joe: I'm over here now.

Panel 5

Dave: Y'know, just once in my life, I'd like to have a simple conversation without the other guy actually being someplace else. I'm amazed our species can figure out how to mate...

Panel 6

Joe: Hey! Check it out! Some nice juicy horses, with a few humans for dessert!
Dave: Oh crap! Joe, those are adventurers!!

Panel 7

Joe: Yeah? And? They still taste good.
Dave: Don't you see?? We're a random encounter!!

Panel 8

Joe: Oh come on. We are not. We have a perfectly good explanation for why we're here and why we might choose to attack them.
Dave: Maybe, but they won't ever know what that reason is.

Panel 9

Dave: We're just a monster placed in the wrong habitat to them. They'll kill us, and then just continue on with whatever lame, drawn-out plot they're following.

Panel 10

Dave (whispering): Just stay down! They don't get any XP for us if they don't encounter us at all.

Panel 11

Joe: Wonderful. There goes the only food that we've seen for days. Weeks!
Dave: The risk wasn't worth it. Besides, I'm sure something will turn up.
Flumph (to Dave's displaced image): Excuse me, kind sir, we were wondering if we could trouble you for directions?

D&D Context[]

  • The creatures in the strip are Displacer Beasts, a rather well-known monster that resembles a panther with two spiked tentacles on its shoulders. They have a constant Displacement effect on them, making them to appear slightly displaced from where they actually are.
  • The Monster Manual goes into detail about the ecology of many of the monsters. The preferred environment for Displaceer Beasts is temperate hills and mountains.
  • Random Encounters happen when the party is traveling, and are generated by rolling tables or by computer generators.

Trivia[]

  • This is the only appearance of the displacer beasts, Dave and Joe.
  • There is a grammatical error in the first panel. The second speech mark is missing.

External Links[]